Known cigarette packing machines normally comprise a blank feed device of the type described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,029,834, wherein a substantially vertical feed channel houses a stack of blanks and terminates with a stop surface defined by a frame having a withdrawal opening closed partly by fixed teeth to retain the blanks inside the channel.
A suction pickup device engages the withdrawal opening cyclically to withdraw and feed the bottom blank in the stack to a follow-up operating unit on the packing machine.
The blanks are stocked close to the packing machine in groups of superimposed blanks held together by normally cardboard bands; and, according to one known method, the band of each group is removed before loading the group inside the feed channel. Once the band is removed, however, the group is unstable and is especially difficult to insert inside the feed channel.